Weekly
news - 2nd November 2018

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the funding allocated for substance misuse services in England by (a) local authority and (b) in total in each year since 2012 | They work for you, UK

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the financial effect of the increase in the cost of prescribing buprenorphine on the provision of substance misuse services | They work for you, UK

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase the number of (a) needle and syringe programmes for people with addictions and (b) people whom those programmes cover | They work for you, UK

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the advice on the efficacy of e-cigarettes as a stop smoking aid between Public Health England’s document entitled Stop smoking options: guidance for conversations with patients and NICE’s document entitled Stop smoking interventions and services guidance | They work for you, UK

[Shared article] The public now overwhelmingly backs the full legalisation of cannabis, according to a poll that suggests there has been a seismic shift in opinion since the government sanctioned medical use of the drug | The Times, UK

The 2018 budget has disappointed health groups by freezing beer and spirit duties, though wine duty is set to rise in line with inflation. Most cider duties are frozen though a new duty band for cider at 6.9% to 7.5% will come into effect in February 2019 seeking to target infamous 'white ciders' | Alcohol Policy UK, UK

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to (a) NHS Trusts and (b) Care Commissioning Groups on consulting local communities on the location of drug and alcohol recovery and treatment centres | They work for you, UK

This year, GDS2019 is translated into 20 languages and with partners in over 35 countries we hope this will be our biggest yet. Committed to helping people use drugs more safely regardless of the legal status of the drug and promoting honest conversation about drug use, GDS relies on the experience and expertise from people all over the world. Share your story with us and help us create change that help people have happier lives and policy that supports health well being, not punishment and stigmatization | GDS, UK

There has been a “profoundly concerning” rise in early deaths from accidents, suicide, alcohol misuse, smoking, cancer and drug addiction in the north of England, deepening the north-south divide, research has found | Guardian, UK

It takes just five minutes for anyone with a credit card to buy lethal drugs online, health watchdogs have warned, as they call for the public to take more care before buying prescription drugs from websites | Telegraph, UK

Following the Government’s announcement to reschedule certain cannabis-based products for medicinal use, NHS England has provided guidance to clinicians following the re-scheduling which sets out our expectations of what this regulatory change will mean in practice for clinicians working in the NHS and in private practice in England | NHS England, UK

Pre-teens are being targeted with adverts for inappropriate alcohol and gambling, the chief executive of the advertising regulator has warned, as he called on social media firms to do more to protect children | Telegraph, UK

NHS guidance for patients explains that medical cannabis will only be prescribed for a limited number of conditions and only if all other treatment options have already been explored | Pharmaceutical Journal, UK

We aimed to use data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 to calculate global and regional estimates of the prevalence of alcohol, amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine, and opioid dependence, and to estimate global disease burden attributable to alcohol and drug use between 1990 and 2016, and for 195 countries and territories within 21 regions, and within seven super-regions. We also aimed to examine the association between disease burden and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintiles | Lancet, UK

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